26% of Managers Admit They Weren’t Qualified When Promoted

Being a leader at an organization is a great step forward in workers’ careers, but many admit the title comes with challenges. More than one-quarter (26 percent) of managers said they weren’t ready to become a leader when they started managing others. Fifty-eight percent said they didn’t receive any management training. The nationwide survey by Careerbuilder was conducted among more than 2,480 U.S. employers and 3,910 U.S. workers between November 15 and December 2, 2010.

When asked what the biggest challenge is as a manager, workers in a management position said the following:

• Dealing with issues between co-workers on my team – 25 percent
• Motivating team members – 22 percent
• Performance reviews – 15 percent
• Finding the resources needed to support the team – 15 percent
• Creating career paths for my team – 12 percent

“Good management skills can positively impact productivity, performance and overall employee morale,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “We see more companies investing in management training programs to develop today’s and tomorrow’s leaders.”

When it comes to rating their direct supervisor, the majority of workers (59 percent) felt their boss was doing a good or even great job. Twenty percent described their direct supervisor’s performance as poor or very poor. The top concerns workers have with their boss include:

• Plays favorites – 23 percent
• Doesn’t follow through on what he/she promises – 21 percent
• Doesn’t listen to concerns – 21 percent
• Doesn’t provide regular feedback – 20 percent
• Doesn’t motivate me – 17 percent
• Only provides negative feedback – 14 percent

When it comes to rating the performance of their corporate leaders, 50 percent felt their leadership teams were doing a good or great job while 23 percent described their performance as poor or very poor. Corporate leaders received a poor rating from workers primarily due to insufficient communication, unrealistic workloads, and a lack or training and employee development:

• Doesn’t make an effort to listen to employees or address employee morale – 40 percent
• Not enough transparency, doesn’t communicate openly and honestly – 33 percent
• Major changes are made without warning – 30 percent
• Workloads and productivity demands are unreasonable – 27 percent
• Doesn’t motivate me – 21 percent
• Stopped investing in the development of employees – 20 percent